Help to shape the future of your town

Published:16:00Friday 20 May 2016

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As the process to prepare a neighbourhood plan for Hebden Royd and the surrounding hilltop parishes reaches a midpoint, there are a number of opportunities for members of the public to have their say on what it should encompass.

Four online questionnaires are available at www.hebdenhilltopplan.co.uk until the end of May, together with a number of consultation events.

Whilst Calderdale’s Local Plan, at a broadly similar stage of development, will set out plans and policies for the bigger issues including the number of houses to be provided and Greenbelt boundaries, this Neighbourhood Plan will be able to give more detailed guidance as to what should happen in each of these local areas.

One part of the plan will be identifying a limited number of key sites where development should be encouraged.

These include the Brown’s site, King Street Mytholm, the western gateway to Hebden Bridge, unused for two decades, Walkley’s Clogs and Callis Mill.

One of the consultation questionnaires is asking for people’s views about the proposed selection of key sites and whether others should be added.

The Neighbourhood Plan could also be a key mechanism to bring about the regeneration of Mytholmroyd, badly damaged by the recent floods, and to give the village more of a centre in order to overcome the severance caused by the A646.

There is a separate consultation survey asking people’s views about this.

Another key site is in Valley Road, Hebden Bridge, which has recently been the cause of some controversy when part of the site was proposed to be developed for a Sainsbury’s local supermarket.

This application was ultimately rejected by the Planning Inspectorate, so another questionnaire is now asking what the town would like to see at this site. The consultation asks people for their preference in terms of possible uses for the site and how it should relate to the rest of the town.

A final questionnaire proposes a number of key themes which will shape the overall direction of the plan.

Once these are agreed the next major consultation will set out detailed policies including how this large area, which includes a significant part of the Upper Calder catchment, can best respond to flooding.

All four consultation surveys are available at www.hebdenhilltopplan.co.uk until the end of May. Any questions about the consultations can be sent to info@hebdenhilltopplan.co.uk